Property Record
19 W 1ST ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | U.S. Post Office |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 52018 |
| Location (Address): | 19 W 1ST ST |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Fond du Lac |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1937 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2010 |
| Historic Use: | post office |
| Architectural Style: | Art Deco |
| Structural System: | Unknown |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | Photo code #2: 74FD-31/24,25 This two-story building used classical motifs in a modern manner. It has a facing of limestone on the front and part of the side walls. A narrow cornice of dentils decorates the top of the stone portion of the building. Fluted pilasters separate window bands on the stone portion of the builidng, while brick pilasters separate window bands on the side walls. Low relief sculptures decorate the spandrels of the stone portions of the building. Windows have been replaced with modern tinted units and openings have been partially filled in. Two fine Art Deco light fixtures flank the entrance. It takes classical forms such as the fluted pilasters, the cornice with dentils, and the decorated spandrels and executes them in a modern, streamlined manner, a hallmark of the Art Deco style. This building is in fine condition with only the partially enclosed windows detracting from its integrity. This building housed the U.S. Post Office in Fond du Lac from 1937 to recent years, when a new post office building was constructed nearby. This building is historically significant because of its association with the U.S. Post Office, the best representative of the federal government in the community. While local, county, and sometimes state governmental buildings are common in medium-sized communities such as Fond du Lac, the federal government was primarily represented by the post office. This project was also a depression-era project, one of the make-work projects the federal government engaged in to provide employment during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Previously surveyed in 1988. The P.B. Haber Building housed not only the printing establishment of the same name, but was also the printer of The Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, which was established in 1926 when The Daily Commonwealth (which had also been published at the Haber establishment) and The Reporter merged. Also, in a third-floor studio of the building the radio station KFIZ was born in 1923. As cited in the Cartwright survey, postal service began in Fond du Lac with its first settler, Colwert Pier who received the first mail delivery from Green Bay in 1838 and maintained service out of his own home. The location of the post office moved as convenient for the current postmaster, after which a permanent post office building was erected in 1862 (or 1869) at 66 S. Macy Street, which also included office space, as well as a meeting hall. In 1906, a new post office was complete at 19 W. 1st Street; that building was razed in favor of the existing structure at the same location. Standing two stories high, this building is faced with stone along its 1st Street elevation, while its rear is sheathed with brick. Although identified as Art Deco in the earlier survey, the more appropriate name for the style is "Stripped Classicism" which was popular for federal buildings. Despite the new signage that runs along the top of the building and new windows have been installed in the significantly larger openings, the openings themselves have not been altered and the modest stone detailing in the panels between the windows remains. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. City Directories for the City of Fond du Lac, on file at the Fond du Lac Public Library, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. B. Sanborn-Perris Maps for the City of Fond du Lac, on file int he Archies of the Staet Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. C. Tax Rolls for the City of Foond du Lac, on file in the Area Research Center of the university of Wisconsin-Oshosh Library, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |